Steel Duck
The steel ducks are one of the armored vehicle used by the minigunman army in their missions of conquest. They are known for their amphibious characteristics that allow them to be used in maritime and ground campaigns. They are of the 'behemoth '''type and as so they are very useful both in siege and in engaging infantry or ships of an enemy armada. They are not as new or common as other behemoths but find a new use in the more recent years of book 4. "Compact" Duck One of the most recent versions of the ''steel duck. They are characterized for their smaller size but thicker armor. They were developed to be used in amphibious warfare, like in the swamps of the eastern border, or the laguna ''at the southwest. As so they are painted in a swamp-green for better camouflage. Appearance It maintains the basic shape of the previous versions of the ''steel duck although slightly redesigned for a smaller size. The main cannon is positioned in a wider angle than usual, allowing to use its small eggs discharge to be launched above enemy walls. This came specially in handy when used to siege Metropoli. The cannon slowly gets wider as it goes to the center of the vehicle, allowing for one minigunman to place himself as the loader in the base of it. About 1mt after the loader's position the cannon finish in an ascending ladder. Between the ladder and the loader's position, in the floor behind a tainted glass lies another minigunman in paralysis state, giving his life force for the machine to work. The aforementioned ladder ascends through the main tower of the vehicle, with three stops. The first one, about 0,5 mt. above the floor of the cannon, leads to the command center, in a beak-shape. It's about 1 mt. long and allows the commander be standing observing the surroundings and commanding the machine's movement through the green tainted glass. When in amphibious mode, it lies barely above the surface of the water. About 1 mt. above this hub it's the next stop, corresponding to the supportive fire minigunman. He is also standing in his smallest also beak-shaped hub. His hub unlike the commander's one doesn't end in green stained glass, but in a heavy-machine gun that is used to provide direct fire to enemies in front of it. Finally, 1 mt. above this hub the ladder ends in the circle-shaped cuspid of the main tower, where another minigunman is deeply connected to a 360° rotating super-heavy machine gunArmor-destroyer horrid-death type. that provides support fire against enemies in front, behind or at the sides of the vehicle. Above him there's the main hatchet and entrance to the vehicle. In the two first stops, due to being a continuous ladder, there are horizontal red poles that allow the minigunmans to enter the beak-shape hubs. Beneath the cannon's floor, at the very bottom, the minigunman-substance that allows the movement of the machine lies. As in the rest of the steel ducks it's particularly thick. Use The Compact steel ducks are relatively old and were first designed to fight in the marshes at the southwest of the laguna and of the eastern border. After the yield of Metropoli they were sporadically used in amphibious missions of pacification in the laguna but they a found a renewed use in the siege of Metropoli around Book 4. Their amphibious characteristics, swamp camouflage and cannon that allowed launch explosive charges above the walls make them ideal in the fight for the reconquest of this area. Inspiration Clearly, the steel duck were based in the amphibious bird from whom it take its name, but also in a less clear way they are based in the Patton M60 tanks of real life warfare. More specifically, the "compact" version of the steel ducks was based in the M60 A3 version of the main battle tank. Also, their general shape is loosely based in driftwood. Notes Category:Fall of the Colossus